SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 4 Augustana University (24-2) enters the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the South Division and will host North Division No. 8 seed Minnesota Crookston (3-23) at the Sioux Falls Arena on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
 
The Vikings finished the regular season with a 21-1 record in conference play, setting a new NSIC record for conference wins in a season. Augustana won its second straight NSIC Overall Championship, securing the title outright.
 
Augustana also enters the 2015-16 NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament as the defending champions. The Vikings won four straight games last season to earn the program's first ever conference tournament championship. Augustana advanced to the quarterfinals with a 97-79 win over Bemidji State in the first round before going on to defeat Minnesota Duluth, Northern State and MSU Moorhead to win the tournament championship.
 
Augustana owns a 7-6 all-time record in the NSIC Tournament. Entering last season, Augustana was 3-6 all-time in the NSIC Tournament before running the table to win the title.
 
The Vikings were ranked No. 1 in the first edition of the NCAA Central Region rankings released last Wednesday. The next set of NCAA rankings is set to be released on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Augustana enters postseason play riding a five-game winning streak. The Vikings are averaging 91.3 points per game and currently rank second in the nation out-scoring opponents by 19.3 points per game.
 
Minnesota Crookston is averaging 65.1 points per game and is shooting 40.3 percent from the field, including 33.2 percent from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles are led in scoring by C.J. Polk who is averaging 12.3 points per game. Derrick Redd is averaging 11.2 pints and has hit 38 3-pointers on the season.
 
The winner between Augustana and Minnesota Crookston will advance to the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament and will play at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27 at the Sanford Pentagon.